


A Touching Adventure

by TheStrangeSeaWolf



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Blindness, Braille, Deaf, Escape, Gen, Post-Episode: s10e05 Oxygen, Touching, blind!twelve
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-23 10:13:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23443168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheStrangeSeaWolf/pseuds/TheStrangeSeaWolf
Summary: From the twitter prompt:While blind, 12 visits a planet where you can feel everything, but not see it. He meets two foreigners; they 'talk' using Braille & save the planet.
Comments: 56
Kudos: 28





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing it as a drabble for the [“TARDIS Outtakes”](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23356237/chapters/55956553) but soon fell in love with the setting and decided it deserved to be a whole story of at least 3 or 4 chapters. Hope you enjoy.

“This is your idea of a good place where I can come to terms with my new life? A place where I can’t even hear anything? Or smell anything? Where all senses that help me now that I’m blind are useless, too?”

He shouted at his TARDIS who gave her distinct “I never take you to places you don’t need to be” hum in return.

He sat beside the TARDIS on something like a rock if he should take a guess. A rough, elevated surface. This was all he could figure out. No smell of rock or plants or animals around. No sound of crickets chirping or people talking or machines humming. It seemed like there was nothing on this planet. At least nothing he could experience. He couldn’t even decide if it was hot or cold, it was just… nothing.

Suddenly something touched his hand. He flinched.

The TARDIS hummed “life form beside you, 3 o’ clock, not hostile, non-toxic”.

That something touched his hand again, softly, carefully, not like a threat. He reached out his hand and touched it. It was a little bit larger than his hand, furry all around, save for two bald spots on each side.

When he touched one of the sides, he felt tiny cold damp points touching the inside of his hand. He retreated his hand immediately.

The creature must have been crawling nearer, because now something bumped against his leg. Twice. Like a demand.

He reached for the place he felt the bumping at his leg and touched the side of the creature again. Again, the cold feeling. He concentrated. A line of pimples. But they were not always there, they changed. It felt like tiny cat noses touching the palm of his hand.

They changed. Again, and again they changed.

Suddenly he recognized it.

Braille.

“D-O-C-T-O-R”

He read. It said “Doctor”, over and over again, just “Doctor”.

“Yes, yes, I am the Doctor. Did you call me?”

He couldn’t hear the sound of his own voice. Right, the TARDIS had informed him that the atmosphere on this planet was breathable for a Time Lord, but the molecules stayed perfectly still. They didn’t carry sound. Or smell, for that matter. If he understood his old girl right, there wasn’t even light to see anything. It was in total darkness.

How could he communicate with this species?

He tried to establish a telepathic link, laying his hand on top of the creature, hoping he had found their head. It didn’t feel like the creature had a head. Or maybe everything was the head. Of course, without eyes, ears or noses there was probably no need to have a distinct body part sticking out.

He couldn’t find a mind that was able or willing to bond with him. He had encountered it before. Usually it meant that those creatures had predators who were tracking them by scanning for brain waves, so they had developed shields to protect their brains.

He laid his hand on the side of the creature again.

Suddenly he felt all the pimples meeting his hand at once.

What did that mean?

Was it trying to tell him something with this?

Oh. Oh!

He retreated his hand and started to push down some of the pimples, forming words in braille. They really felt like cat noses.

“I am the Doctor.”

Then, he let his hand rest again on the side.

“I know. I called for you.”

It came back.

He found it odd that this species would communicate in human braille with him. Stupid Doctor, he scolded himself, of course they didn’t. The TARDIS translated it that way.

“What are you? And why did you call me?”

“We are the inhabitants of this planet. We communicate by touch. We rest our sides against each other and feel what we want to tell each other. Our whole language is touch. We don’t have a name for our species, it is just a touch. The same with our names. Here it is…”

And he felt two patterns being touched into his hands. It felt nice, but the TARDIS couldn’t find a matching expression in Braille.

“It feels nice, and it is a nice name, both for a species and for an individual. Why did you call me?”

“We are under attack. Some aliens are harvesting us.”

“Harvesting you?”

“Yes. They discovered this planet and they come with their ships and catch us. We try to hide and of course we recognize when they come by the vibration of their feet, but somehow, they often know where we are hiding. We don’t understand how they do it.”

“I understand. But I don’t think I can help. I’m blind.”

“So are we. But you are the Doctor.”

“That was when I had all my senses. I’m missing one and I can’t use the remaining ones on this planet of yours.”

“But you are the Doctor. They say you always find a way. They say, in the deepest, touchless night, when all seems hopeless and no one is resting at your side, there is the Doctor, always the Doctor.”

He felt the desperation and the hope behind these words. He was the last hope of this whole species, he felt it in the way he was touched, the “cat noses” being able to transfer an emotion with the words.

He stroked the furry… head? Spine? Top?... of the small furry ball beside him, hoping that they would recognize it as a comforting gesture.

“I will try.”

He typed against their side and tried to replicate the name he had felt earlier in his hand. The creature corrected the name and he tried again. As a confirmation and probably a thankful gesture the creature gave a short vibration that felt like a cat’s purr. It was a nice feeling in his hand.

“I promise you, I will try,” he repeated the name touch.

He wasn’t sure he could do anything, but he didn’t want to betray the trust this species of small, furry, touch-communicating balls had in him.


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor sat on the rock and communicated with the inhabitant of this strange planet.

“Where do these aliens come from? Do they have a ship or a basis you can… ‘show me’ is probably the wrong word…”?

“I can guide you to the place where they come from. We just have to be careful, so they won’t catch us…”

It was not an easy endeavor to be guided by this creature. He had to rest his hand on their top and crawl on the ground following them. On their way, he bumped in quite a few rocks and he once nearly broke his arm stumbling in a pit because the creature didn’t think about the larger body they were guiding. But finally, the creature stopped. He rested his hand against the creature’s side.

“That’s it. I can already feel the vibrations on the ground from what must be their basis. They are not always here. The whole area vibrates when they come. After the strong vibrations there are constant smaller vibrations from here, so I think it is their basis.”

As the creature described it, it sounded a lot like a spaceship, strong vibrations while landing, smaller vibrations during their daily operations.

“While they are here, they send groups to harvest us. The basis must be about 10 of your body lengths away, this direction,” and the creature signed an arrow pointing ahead.

“Okay,” he tapped to the creature’s side, “stay here, I try to find out what they are up to.”

“I’m not leaving you, Doctor. It’s my people you are trying to save. And you are not familiar with this planet, so I might be of help. I’m sure I can hide somewhere in your fur; you are large enough.”

“My fur? Right, my clothes! Brace yourself, I take you up.”

He took the small creature and placed it carefully in the pocket of his coat.

“I’m going to explore the ship now. Sorry, I can’t promise you this will be safe for you,” he typed.

“Don’t worry, Doctor. I’m small and they don’t expect me to be hiding in your fur. I’m not scared.”

The Doctor carefully approached where he thought the ship would be, his arms stretched out. There it was. He touched the cold metal.

He missed his usual abilities to investigate it further.

He couldn’t see it, of course.

He couldn’t sonic it with his screwdriver because he couldn’t see the readings and his TARDIS hadn’t come up with a solution for this problem, yet.

Banging on the metal was useless, because he couldn’t hear the metal resonate and tell him what it was.

No possibility to smell it in this atmosphere.

Taste? Yes, taste was still an option, he nearly had forgotten about that.

He carefully licked the metal.

Steel, 51st century Earth. A human spaceship. Probably a…

He touched the metal again and let his hands glide along the side. He slowly walked towards the rear. A picture formed in his mind. He carefully touched the surface around the engines. Then he examined the maintenance door and finally the fuel tank cap.

Yes, a Galaxy X5 Mark II Stargazer.

Suddenly he felt something in his back. Probably a gun. He took his hands up. Someone threw him against the ship’s hull, then forcefully grabbed his hands and handcuffed him. He was turned around and felt himself being grabbed by the arms and dragged forward. He stumbled along.

They were walking upwards, probably a ramp leading up to the ship. Then, he felt like a hammer had hit him. They must have been entering the spaceship and he was overwhelmed by the sudden impact of sensations. The humming of machines, the sound of boots on metal ground, the shouting of people, the smells of recycled air, oil, grease, and the sweat of humans being crammed into a tight space for too long. It was hot and damp in this place. He almost immediately got a severe headache by the onslaught of impressions his mind wasn’t used to process anymore. He felt dizzy.

He was thankful when the guards, or whoever they were, shoved him into a quieter room.

“Who are you?” A commanding voice asked.

“I could ask you the same, who are you, attacking harmless tourists, arresting them for no reason at all?”

“I’m Commander Asaniel Bergham, and you have been snooping around my ship. You have no right to invade our hunting grounds. This whole planet is property of the “Good Food Inc.” and there are no touristic flights to this place, so you are a liar. Probably one of those alien rights activists, eh? For the last time: who are you?”

“I am the Doctor!”

“Doctor who?”

“Exactly.”

“And what is your business? Why are you spying our ship?”

“I’m just a traveler, passing through.”

“Liar. I guess you were trying to free our catch of Chrubbs. It’s always the same with you alien rights weirdos. Although none of you so far has interfered with our business on this planet.”

“And what, exactly, is your business?”

“Ah, come on, you have proven yourself to be a bad liar already, now, don’t play dumb on top of that! Wouldn’t be surprised if you hadn’t eaten Crispy Chrubbs back on Earth, too. You are all hypocrites, on closer inspection.”

“Crispy Chrubbs? Sorry, I have no idea, I don’t come from Earth.”

A moment of silence.

“One of those colonists from the outer planets, then? Fine, I tend to believe you, the behavior fits. Crispy Chrubbs is a delicacy on Earth. We hunt the Chrubbs here. On Earth, they are distributed to restaurants where they are shaved and fried. The pimples at their sides make for a really delicate crispy crust and the flesh on the inside is incredibly soft and sweet. It’s especially tasty if they are deep fried alive.”

He felt anger welling up and the urge to punch the commander in the face. He was sure he would find the right spot even without seeing him, but his hands were still cuffed behind his back. Besides, it was probably not the smartest thing to do as a blind man on a foreign spaceship with probably armed guards around. Right at this moment, he hated the human species and he hated feeling helpless like that.

He wondered how the creature in his pocket would feel about the reveal. He just hoped that they wouldn’t make a noise. Then he recalled that it probably hadn’t understood what happened to the Chrubbs the humans caught, because it didn’t have ears and he doubted that his TARDIS had translated it into touch.

“I have no interest in your business.” He said. “Let me go and you won’t see me again. I’m blind, by the way, I can’t spy on you or sabotage you if this is what you are scared of.”

“I’m not scared! And we are an equal opportunity ship,” the commander replied, “so we believe that every intruder should be treated equally. You will be imprisoned and put on trial, it doesn’t matter if you are blind, deaf or have other special needs.”

With these words, he was dismissed. The guards took him out of the commander’s office, and they went through the screaming hot and smelling loud ship again until they pushed him into a thankfully much quieter prison cell.

He made sure he fell to the side with the empty pocket. He carefully got up and crawled to the wall, leaning his back against it.

There he was. Imprisoned on a foreign planet and a foreign spaceship, blind and with his hands tied behind his back. Probably my birthday, he thought with a bitter smile.

The small creature crawled out of his pocket and bumped against his back a few times. He understood and adjusted his position so they could crawl between his handcuffed hands.

“Doctor? Are you okay?” they signed.

“Everything’s okay,” he signed back.

“What happened? I couldn’t feel anything.”

“They are humans. They are… it’s hard to describe it to you because I rely much more on my other senses than on touch… they have the same appearance as me, but they are a different species.”

“And they have caught you and we are now in a prison.”

“How do you know?”

“I felt that you were not moving with your usual pace and you didn’t reach into your pocket to tell me what happened, which can only mean they have blocked your speaking organs.”

He had to smile at the thought of his hands being his ‘speaking organs’.

“That’s correct, my hands are tied, I can’t use them like I usually would.”

“What do they want from you? And what are they doing to my people? Have you found out?”

The Doctor sighed and thought about how to word it.

“They catch your people for food,” he finally typed.

“Oh. I nearly expected something like that. Are they starving?”

“No. It is more that you taste exceptionally good for them. So, they catch you and fly you back to Earth and sell you to restaurants – places where humans meet to eat.”

“What do they do to them?”

He didn’t want to tell them.

“Doctor! I need to know! What do they do to my people?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“It’s something terrible, I can feel it. Tell me!”

“They fry you in hot oil.”

He omitted the fact that they even did so when the Chrubbs were still alive. It was terrible enough already.

There was a short moment of silence, or better: of not touching.

“They are monsters!” The small creature then trembled with fury, “We must destroy them, Doctor!”

“They are humans… they are not monsters as such. Not everybody. Even not everybody on this ship, I believe. There are very good and kind people of this species, too, you know.”

“How can a species be kind when they allow other species being fried in oil?”

“I know it’s nearly impossible to understand. It’s hard for me, too. But would you believe me that there are many, many other humans who selflessly risk their lives for other species?”

“Hardly.”

“But it’s true. I could tell you many stories from my travels. I had great human companions and all of them would have abhorred what those people are doing to your people.”

“You are sad.”

He was surprised.

“How do you know?”

“I feel it in your touch, Doctor. You are sad about your companions. What happened? Were they fried, too?”

He had to smile.

“No. None of them was deep fried. One, nearly, but that’s a different story. It’s just… I’m very, very old, you know.”

“Oh.” He felt a compassionate touch. “I’m sorry for your loss, Doctor.”

“Thank you. Not all are dead, you know. I have a great companion now. She’s a human and my student. And generally, a great human being.”

“That’s good. It’s not good if there is no one to touch and rest at your side.”

“It works a bit different for humans,____” he typed the name, “but I know what you mean, and you are right.”

“What’s the name of your companion?”

“Bill.”

“Bill,” the creature repeated, “that feels nice, it’s a nice-feeling name, tell them that.”

“I will. But to do that we first have to think about how we get out of here.”


	3. Chapter 3

„What you are saying doesn‘t make any sense!”

The creature complained. The Doctor was ripped out of his thoughts.

“What?” he typed on the creature’s side.

“You are constantly talking complete nonsense to me, Doctor!”

Oh, of course, he had tapped his fingers on the creature’s side, because he always played with his fingers when he thought about something.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to say something, I was thinking.”

“Thinking is good.”

“Yes.”

“What were you thinking, Doctor?”

“How to escape out of a prison without being able to use my eyes or my hands. At least this prison has an Earth atmosphere so I can hear and smell, but seriously, this is getting us nowhere. And I’m stuck with a companion who is basically just as useless as I am.”

The Doctor kept thinking.

The creature said nothing.

Wait, that wasn’t right.

It was odd that the creature said nothing.

They had been the impatient type so far.

Oh.

They were probably cross with him.

“Are you cross with me?” He typed.

The creature still said nothing.

“Hey? Are you cross with me? Come on, we are already in a difficult situation. You saying nothing doesn’t make it better.”

“You said I’m useless.”

“I didn’t mean it that way. I only thought that we are both trapped here, I can’t use my hands and my eyes and you are very small and you don’t have any extremities, so I can’t send you to go anywhere or grab anything. Figuring out an escape plan in this setup is just very, very hard. I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m sorry.”

“But… I _can_ grab!”

Something grabbed the Doctor’s middle finger and his thumb and pulled them against each other, with much more skill and strength than he had anticipated.

“Wow, you are strong!”

“How do you think we move and climb and get things done? We have finger-feet!”

The Doctor assumed that the TARDIS had made that word up because she couldn’t find an exact expression for the name of the Chrubb’s extremities. But from what he felt, feet that had the same skill as fingers fit very well.

“Okay, that changes things. Can you crawl into my trouser pockets and see if you find my sonic screwdriver?”

“What is a… S-O-N-I-C… S-C-R-E-W-D-R-I-V-E-R?”

The Doctor tried his best to describe it in a way a creature with no concept of a screwdriver would understand it. Afterwards the creature crawled away and rummaged in his pockets. It was a strange feeling.

After a while the creature crawled back between his hands.

“Nothing. Looks like they emptied your pockets.”

He felt all his hopes vanishing.

“What would you do if you had your… s-c-r-e-w-d-r-i-v-e-r?”

“I would open my handcuffs.”

“And then?”

“I would open the door and escape.”

“It’s probably guarded?”

“Good point. Well, I would have seen how to handle that.”

“That’s a lot of ‘would’ in your plan, Doctor.”

“Shut up. No. Don’t shut up, you are right, it was only half a plan. But I hoped I could use my hands again.”

“What would you do with them?”

“Search the wall to see what’s where. Maybe find some ventilation shaft to crawl into to escape. Although this usually only works in Sci-Fi episodes on TV. There are never ventilation shafts in real life…”

If he would have spoken instead of typing Braille against the creature’s side, he would have said “Oh. _Oh_!” at that point because suddenly he had a thought.

This was a Stargazer.

“What have you thought of, Doctor? I can feel you are excited?”

“I recalled something that might be important. This is a small type of spaceship, more a fish trawler than a real sip. The Stargazers have no prison cells. The reasoning is that with such a small crew anyone who had committed a crime would be confined in their private cabins until the trial takes place.”

“How does this help us?”

“Less security measures. And whatever outlet we find, it probably isn’t monitored with high security systems.”

He got up and slowly strolled along the walls, back turned to them, feeling his way with his tied hands, trying to cobble together a picture of the cabin in his mind.

He reached a separate room. Ah, right, the small cabinet that served as a bathroom. Not more than a sink and a toilet, if he recalled right.

His knees immediately bumped against the toilet. He slowly lowered himself down to rest a bit and think. He searched his mind for the information about the life support systems of the Galaxy fleet and had a close look. He felt the small creature crawling his leg and finding their way to his back and between his hands.

“Found something, Doctor?”

He slowly touched the creature, examining it all around.

“What do you do, Doctor?”

“How long can you catch your breath?”

“Breath?”

“Yes, you know, don’t you take in air from your surrounding atmosphere or something?”

“We don’t eat air, Doctor. We eat moss.”

“Okay. Are you familiar with water? Liquid? Can you swim?”

“Well, I prefer moss, but some of us also eat ____” again a touch for a species he wasn’t familiar with and the TARDIS couldn’t find in her database, “which they catch in the lakes and I know the skills to catch them, too. I swim and dive.”

“Good diver?”

“So-so. Why do you ask?”

“I’m sitting on a toilet. It is connected to the tank where they recycle the water. It is part of their life support system.”

“They recycle the water from the toilet to drink it?” The creature shuddered.

“It’s 51st century technology, it is basically fresh water after this process.”

“Still gross.”

“If you think that’s gross, wait for my plan. You are small enough to fit through the sewage pipe of the toilet…”

“Yuck. Tell me more.”

“If you don’t need to breath and can swim and dive you can follow that pipe and reach the waste water tank. There is a maintenance lid at the top which you should be able to lift as it is only a thin membrane. Then you would be in the maintenance central.”

“Gross. Sounds doable.”

“You have to swim to the top immediately when entering the tank, otherwise you might get sucked in the reprocessing tank…”

“More unpleasant surprises?”

“I don’t know if the maintenance room is guarded.”

“I don’t think they expect something crawling from their toilets.”

“Right. Now comes the tricky part.”

The creature did not signal anything but shook in his hands. He assumed it was a Chrubb’s equivalent of snorting.

“We need to turn the power off. Then, the inner doors will open automatically and there will be some confusion that helps us escape. Usually, I would suggest that you just turn off the fuses, but in this case, their emergency generators would kick in pretty quick. We need to short-circuit all their systems so we create enough confusion – and time for us.”

“I don’t understand a word you say, but carry on…”

The Doctor had to remind himself that he knew nothing about the Chrubb’s civilization and technology and so had to explain everything in a way the creature would be able to do what needed to be done. And he hoped he remembered the systems of this ship correctly enough so his little friend would not become accidentally electrocuted.

“As I understand it, we taste pretty yummy when roasted.”

“I didn’t say anything. How can you read my thoughts?”

“I felt your emotions. You were worried I could be killed by sparks and fire. It’s different than the emotion when you were worried I could drown.”

“That’s impressive.”

“Sorry, I always forget that you are from an inferior species.”

“Oi. I’m not from an inferior species! We Time Lords are just different.”

“Yes. And that’s why I will have to save us, right? So, go on with that plan of yours.”

The Doctor started to describe in detail how the creature would find the main power supply and exactly which plugs they had to exchange and which ones they should just pull out and let dangle. The Chrubb repeated it several times and asked whenever something was not completely clear.

“What do we do once chaos ensues?”

“Well, the doors will open and I sincerely hope this will also apply to the cages where your fellow Chrubbs are imprisoned. Anyway, I don’t think I can go on a great rescue mission with my cuffed hands and so I think we both just try to get out of here amidst the chaos and meet at the TARDIS.”

“What’s a TARDIS?”

“The ship I came in. Do you think you will find it on your own?”

“Doctor, I’m not the one who is disabled.”

“Oi. That was rude!”

“Sorry, didn’t mean it. It’s just that I’m better suited for this planet. I have no difficulties to find your ship. We can meet there after we escaped.”

“Alright then. Are you ready?”

“Ready if you don’t block the way anymore.”

The Doctor had to grin at the confidence of his new companion.

“Alright, ____, I trust you and I am sure you will manage great. Good luck, my friend,” he typed and got up. Seconds later he heard a splash as the Chrubb jumped into the toilet.

The Doctor had lost count on how often his life had depended on sewers one way or the other. But this was the first time he depended on someone else to do this gross job for him, and to do it properly. He wished he hadn’t lost his faith a long time ago, so he could pray for the little fellow. Instead he focused all good thoughts on the brave little soul that they would find their way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last paragraph was of course inspired by listening to “If I could pray” by Monks Road Social, written and sung by Peter Capaldi himself. Check out the album [“Humanism”](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Humanism-Monks-Road-Social/dp/B083HCGM4M), it’s great!


	4. Chapter 4

This had sounded easier than it was. When the power went out – and probably the lights, too, he just wasn’t able to see it – he heard the sound of releasing air pressure from the doors. This meant the door had opened.

He used his cuffed hands behind his back to feel himself towards the door and tried to memorize the location plan of a Stargazer.

Finding the way out was made difficult by the fact that he had forgotten to count his steps towards the captain’s office and to the prison room. He was still new to this whole being blind stuff. He needed to add counting steps to the sub-calculations his brain always did unconsciously.

He found the door and pawed his way following the walls to where he suspected the loading hatch to be. Walking this way was cumbersome, but doable.

Judging by the screams and angry shouts, the light was still out, and the crew had difficulties to adapt to the new situation.

His hearts skipped a beat when he heard the sound of an emergency generator kicking in.

It ran a few seconds, then a mighty explosion shook the ship and there were more screams than before. He just hoped that his new companion was alright.

He continued to walk towards the exit, when suddenly his foot, instead of meeting the floor, met nothing at all. He recognized his mistake too late, fell, instinctively protecting his head with his hands and trying to make himself as small as possible to reduce the damage of the impact.

Several hard edges hit him while falling.

Ah.

So, the staircase to the loading hatch came a lot earlier than he had visualized in his head.

His fall was suddenly stopped by something soft.

“What the fuck?”

He heard a voice. Obviously, he had tumbled against a crew member.

His brain calculated the options in nanoseconds.

His hands were cuffed, so no way to use Venusian aikido. He didn’t see his opponent, so he was not able to attack him effectively, anyway. The only thing that probably worked in his favor was that his opponent was just as blind as he was, so didn’t know who had bumped into him. And, taking that this was the loading hatch, it was probably a low-ranking guard or a docker. It was a small chance, but…

He quickly picked himself up.

“What are you think you are doing here, mate?”

“What? I’m guarding the dock; how does it look to you?”

Ah. So, it was a guard.

“Didn’t you get the order, then? All guards to the captain’s office in 4.5 minutes, straight. Chop-chop, they will be mighty angry if you are late – again!”

The last remark was pushing his luck, but he calculated that guiding a draughty loading hatch was a task assigned to someone who was not exactly a captain’s favorite.

“Oh, fuck, thanks, mate.”

He felt the guard passing him and heard him running up the staircase.

So, the lights were still out, otherwise that guy would have never fallen for his trick.

He concentrated on his surroundings again.

There was a strong draught from the right. While the molecules of this planet’s atmosphere stayed perfectly still on the outside, the artificial atmosphere of the ship sucked them in, causing a significant draught.

So, the loading hatch had opened when the power went out. He was thankful that engineers never corrected that design flaw. If he had had to engineer a spaceship, he sure would have ensured all doors shut during a blackout. But some health and safety advisor had argued that in case of emergency, all exits would be blocked this way. Had led to quite a few terrible accidents on hostile planets. Eventually, that model had been retired. But apparently, the officials never withdrew the operating permit.

For him, in this situation, this was a blessing.

He hoped that the hatch wasn’t guarded by a second staffer. But chances were low as the inhabitants of this planet were peaceful and it was merely a hunting ship, after all. They were usually hopelessly understaffed to maximize the profit.

He crawled along the wall until he felt the draught was the strongest.

He took a big step and fell.

Right.

While the hatch opened during a power failure, the ramp wasn’t extended.

Another design flaw.

After a short fall of perhaps seven feet, he reached the ground.

It didn’t startle him. Falling from heights was what he did on a regular basis. He was a Time Lord after all and was well able to calculate how to land safely on his feet in nanoseconds. Only cats were faster at it.

What terrified him more was the immediate, total absence of impressions. The spaceship had been loud, damp, and foul-smelling. Outside was just – nothing.

He tried to orient himself.

He felt for one of the ship’s skids and tried to establish in which angle to go from there to reach his TARDIS.

When he was sure he had the right direction, he started to walk towards it.

There was the vibration of apparently another explosion from the ship.

He started running.

After a few feet he stumbled over a rock, tumbled, and, unable to catch his fall with his hands cuffed behind his back, hit his head against a bigger rock.

He felt something wet running down from his forehead, reaching his nose and his mouth.

He tasted.

Blood.

He slowly got up and walked further, just to stumble over the next rock and hit the ground face first.

He rolled to his side to be able to breath, willed back the pain and forced himself to think.

There had been a reason to crawl towards the ship. One had been that the Chrubb was so small and they had guided him. The other had been that it was impossible not to get hurt while walking being unable to see, hear or smell.

And now, his hands were tied behind his back, so he couldn’t even feel his way along the ground.

Or could he?

He rolled to his back and bent his knees. Then, he started to push himself into the direction where he suspected his TARDIS to be.

It went well a few pushes, then he bumped again against a rock.

He had to face the truth: there was no reasonable chance to reach his ship.

He thought about his new companion. He only hoped they were alive and had managed to escape. He was extremely worried for them. He couldn’t make sense of that second explosion.

If they were alive, the TARDIS would take care of them, he was sure.

But what if they hadn’t managed to escape?

If the crew managed to fix the generators and captured them?

They would take them to Earth, and they would end up as dish of the day.

He had to make sure they were alright.

He couldn’t let his own miserable situation keep him from rescuing his companion!

This was not how it worked.

He was the Doctor, after all!

Now, what about him?

Maybe, there was a chance not to hurt himself further if he crawled face down? Always carefully reaching out with his forehead to make sure he didn’t hit a rock?

He rolled around and tried.

It could work.

It hurt a great deal with his already injured forehead, but it worked.

Made him probably look like a gigantic caterpillar, but aesthetics didn’t matter right now.

It worked.

_Thief!_

His TARDIS!

Was she that near?

_Thief! You are crawling in the wrong direction!_

Oh.

“Where are you? You must be near if you already reach me in telepathy.”

_I’m actually about a mile away, but I found a way to project a telepathic ray in your direction. I can guide you._

“You are a brilliant ship, Sexy!”

_I know._

He really had to tell her how great she was more often. Or perhaps use the more expensive machine oil next time. She deserved it.

He got to his feet and the TARDIS told him exactly where to place his feet. It was a cumbersome and slow way to walk, but he didn’t hurt himself further and after some time he bumped to the reassuring wooden doors.

“Are you not going to let me in?”

_Oh, I do. I just wanted to make sure you know you reached me and don’t trip over the doorsill. Come on in._

“Home at last. Thank you, Sexy.”

He sighed when he smelled the familiar smell of the console room.

_You are welcome, my Thief. You look miserable. Go to the medbay._

“I first have to make sure my companion is alright.”

_There were quite some explosions on that spaceship while you made your way towards me._

“I didn’t hear anything since I left.”

_Of course not. Remember the atmosphere?_

He just hoped that the little Chrubb was alright and found a way to escape.

“Scan the ship for life signs.”

He held his breath as the TARDIS started scanning the spaceship.


	5. Chapter 5

The TARDIS beeped after she had scanned the spaceship.

_Detected life forms:_

_Humanoid: 79_

_Other: 0_

The Doctor’s hearts sunk.

“No other life forms? That can’t be true! Please, scan again!”

_Detected life forms:_

_Humanoid: 79_

_Other: 0_

The Doctor hung his head. Was it true? Had he lost everybody – again?

He slowly went out of the TARDIS.

He let himself sink on a rock and let his head sink into his hands.

Every single bone in his body ached from his adventure on his way from the spaceship to his TARDIS and his wrists were sore from the handcuffs, but the emotional pain was worse.

Lost again.

If he only had been able to see! He would have managed to free the captured Chrubbs. And there wouldn’t have been the need to send his friend _____ down the sewers and, ultimately, to their death. The Chrubb had freed him but lost their life for it.

It was time to face the truth: he couldn’t be the Doctor as a blind man. He should go back to St. Luke’s. A blind professor, probably a good goal for all kinds of cruel student’s pranks. Well, maybe he could fool them. So far, even Bill didn’t suspect he hadn’t been able to restore his eyesight. But Missy – Missy would find out in no time. And she would sure use it against him. He had to rely on Nardole to make sure she didn’t escape. He hated the thought.

For the first time in about 2,000 years he felt really tired.

Tired of himself.

Tired of the universe.

Tired of life.

Suddenly, something bumped his leg. Several times.

He reached down.

Round. Furry. Wet. Without doubt a Chrubb.

“_____?” He typed on the sides.

“Sure, who else should it be, Doctor?” It came back.

“You are alive!”

“Of course, I’m alive, why shouldn’t I?”

The Doctor reached down, around the Chrubb and lifted them to his knees.

“What are you doing?”

“Making sure you are alright,” he said, stroking the wet fur.

“I’m alright, Doctor, don’t worry!”

“I’m glad, _____! The TARDIS scanned the ship for life forms and only detected humans and I assumed…”

“Doctor! We said we meet at your TARDIS and here I am. Was quite a journey to get here!”

The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a towel. He always carried a towel in his pockets, which were, of course, bigger on the inside, since he read the 20th century Earth book “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”. It had proven itself useful more than once.

He started to rub the Chrubb dry.

“What’s that?” They asked.

“We call it a towel. I’m rubbing you dry so you don’t catch a cold.”

“T-O-W-E-L, nice word. You don’t need to rub me dry, we are a fishing species, remember? We are used to wet fur; it dries off naturally and doesn’t affect us. But it feels nice, anyway. You may proceed.”

The Chrubb vibrated when he reached the fingerfeet. Obviously, this was the place where the creature was ticklish.

“How did you escape?”

“It was quite a task, Doctor! Maybe good you didn’t tell me all of it. Some of the stuff you told me about the main power supply worked, other things didn’t, so I had to figure out why you gave me the instructions and apply it to what I found. But I think I did a good job.”

“Oh, yes you did. You short-circuited their systems and even their emergency systems. But I don’t understand the explosions I felt, and the TARDIS told me there were several. I was really worried about you.”

“The explosions? I just found out there were neat little things – I don’t know what they need them for. Hanging on the walls. You can make them explode when you short-circuit them. Creates a moment of distraction for the hunters.”

He thought for a short moment what it could have been and decided that it was probably the fire extinguishing system of the Stargazer. It worked with pressurized air and if you short-circuited that system… yes, you could make the tank burst and get quite a shockwave. For someone who wasn’t familiar with human technology it was amazing that the creature had figured that out. Or had it been trial and error? Probably. And incredibly dangerous.

“That was highly dangerous, you know that? You could have gotten yourself killed! Or lose your hearing!”

“My what?”

Oh. Right.

“Never mind, I forgot, you don’t have ears. But you could have gotten yourself killed, anyway!”

“Yes. So what? And it was an effective way to free the other ________.”

“You freed your people?”

“Every single soul that was captured in those bastards’ cages.”

He felt a wave of happiness warm his hearts and his eyes got wet. For once, everybody lived. It didn’t happen too often.

“You really care for us, right?”

He nodded, remembered that the Chrubb couldn’t see it and typed “yes, of course, I do,” on their side.

“That’s nice.”

For a moment he just let both his hands rest on the Chrubb’s body. He didn’t know if this species knew the concept of a hug, but he hoped they would understand it.

“Of course, I do, I am not dumb. We rest our sides against each other, but I understand what you are doing, I can sense your emotions, remember?”

Right.

“Okay. Enough sentimentalities. We need to do something if we want to rescue your species.”

“Rescue my species? I told you I freed them!”

“You freed the last catch. They will come again. We need to put an end to that.”

“Do we destroy their ship?”

“What good would that do? They would send others. And even might seek revenge if they found out it was your people’s doing. No, we need to do something different… And I need you to come with me to do that.”

The Chrubb said nothing.

“_____?”

“Yes… I understood, it’s just…”

“What?”

“Do I really need to come with you?”

“Yes, for what I am planning to do, I need you. You don’t have to be afraid of coming with me. My TARDIS is the safest place I know. Nothing harmful can enter it.”

“That’s… not it.”

“What is it, then?”

“I… among the people I just freed was my husband. I don’t want to be separated from him, again.”

Suddenly, he understood why the Chrubb had risked so much for freeing his people.

“He can join us, if he likes to.”

“Really?”

“Sure! My TARDIS is sure big enough for both of you.”

“Thank you!”

The creature pressed themselves against his left hand. He recognized it for what it was: he was hugged by a Chrubb.

“You are welcome, now go and fetch him.”

The Chrubb left his hands and disappeared.

The Doctor leaned back and thought about his plan. It was just half a plan right now, but his new companion didn’t need to know that. But maybe having a pair of Chrubbs with him was even better than just one. Time would tell. It always did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a huge Douglas Adams fan it is my headcanon that the Doctor of course always carries a towel! It is surprising that this is the first fic he really needs it.


	6. Chapter 6

The Doctor was exciting to show his new companions his TARDIS. If showing was the right words for a species that didn’t see, hear, or smell.

He encouraged _____ and their husband to feel themselves around the ship and explore while he worked on the details of his plan and did some research with the TARDIS’ help.

He felt something bumping his leg and lifted the Chrubb to the console. There was something else bumping his leg. He lifted the other Chrubb up, too. He rested his right hand on the right side of one Chrubb and his left hand on the left side of the other Chrubb and just hoped he wouldn’t get confused in typing. Sure, he had a superior Time Lord brain, but he was not used to typing simultaneously in Braille.

“How do you like it?”

He typed.

“It’s a nice cave, Doctor!”

The left Chrubb answered.

“Very nice cave,” the right Chrubb agreed. He recognized him as _____’s husband, __________, the touches felt a bit different, gentler, less determined. He was also a bit rounder and had a tighter fur.

“Aren’t you surprised how large it is?”

The Doctor was strangely disappointed that both hadn’t mentioned anything along the lines that it was bigger on the inside.

“Oh, I have been in bigger caves,” _____ answered.

“That’s not a cave! It’s a spaceship! It’s even better, it’s a sentient space-time machine! Time And Relative Dimensions In Space! TARDIS!”

The TARDIS hummed her approval which the Chrubbs, of course, couldn’t hear.

“Cave, spaceship, TARDIS… it is the place you dwell, right?”

The Doctor sighed. It was probably useless to argue with a species that didn’t know anything about the concept of travelling through time and space.

“Don’t be disappointed, Doctor,” _____’s husband added quickly. “It IS an impressive cave. _____ has a tendency to downplay his excitement so he’s coming off as more experienced and superior. I can tell you he’s quite impressed!”

The Chrubbs, who had rested their sides against each other between his hands, started to vibrate intensely. Obviously, they were arguing. The Doctor quickly changed topic to stop the quarrelling.

“So, you are both male?”

“What is a male?” _____ asked.

That was a surprisingly good question.

“How… how do you have children? Do you give birth, or do you lay eggs or… how do you reproduce?”

“Oh, that!”

Now both Chrubbs vibrated in his hands, but differently. He was rather sure they made fun of him. Or were they embarrassed?

“We do give birth, yes.”

“And who gives birth?”

“That’s an odd question, Doctor. You just agree who. Couples might choose to interchange. Some even play moss-rock-cave to decide. If one isn’t a good diver and fisher, usually you choose this one because the baby sits on your back until it is two floods old and is not fully functional – you have to rely on the better diver to catch enough food, you know? So, obviously, I was the one who gave birth to all our children,” _____ answered.

So, perhaps the TARDIS had based categorizing _____ as “wife” and __________ as “husband” on that fact. Either that, or she had just chosen the default setting for categorizing a spouse of a companion. Most of his companions had been female, after all.

His TARDIS hummed that it was hard enough to translate from the touch language of the species into Braille and back and she just relied on his often-self-acclaimed superior Time Lord intelligence to figure out the details.

“But that doesn’t help us, right, Doctor?”

Of course, his companion was right. He had become distracted, which happened often when he encountered a new species. It was too exciting to learn new things.

“Right!” He typed. Usually he would have swirled around, but it wouldn’t have any effect on a species that couldn’t see, so he just stayed at the console.

“What is your plan, Doctor?” _____ wanted to know.

“We are going back to 5019 and will end this before it started!”

“What is a 5019?”

“A year…” the time system for this species probably worked completely different… if he understood it right, they counted in the flooding of some parts of their habitat. “We are going some floods back to reach the point where your planet and your people were just discovered by humans.”

“You can skip some floods… backwards?” _____ asked.

“Correct. With the TARDIS, I can.”

“Wow. That’s a good cave!” For the first time, the Chrubb seemed impressed.

Both Chrubbs vibrated. Obviously, they were discussing something amongst themselves and didn’t agree. 

“__________ wants to know if we can skip back thirty-two floods so they can meet their birth-giver who died very young.”

“I’m sorry, it would be too dangerous. It would create a paradox, especially as they would want to touch them. It… the timelines… it is a bit difficult to understand…”

“It’s okay, Doctor. I sense it is dangerous. I might not understand it, but I can sure sense you deem it highly dangerous. So, what is your plan?”

“Ah, well, you will see.”

He didn’t want to say more. Or type more, in that case.

Partly, because it was a bit difficult to think of a way to explain it to a species with no concept of human technology.

Partly, because it highly relied of some traits of the human species that were so unbelievable it would probably end in a lecture about humans. Once he touched his favorite topic, he would be easily carried away and it would be impossible to stop himself from talking. Or typing.

But most of all, because he wasn’t sure it would work at all and he might need to do something completely different. He hated to disappoint his companions and, generally, he hated to be wrong in public.

He carefully put the Chrubbs down to the floor.

“Hold tight, it might be a bumpy ride!”

He advised, and hoped they found something to cling to. He didn’t see where they went but thought he heard them crawling under the console.

The TARDIS hummed that he shouldn’t worry, they were safe under the console and she would secure them with a belt if it got too bumpy.

“Thank you, old girl!”

The Doctor murmured as he felt his way to the right switches to go to the place he needed to be to stop this crazy species, his favorite species, from harming the Chrubbs for all times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would have loved to see __________ getting angry at the Doctor, asking "who do you call old girl?" at the end, but then I realized that, unfortunately, the Chrubbs couldn't hear the Doctor's remark to his TARDIS. You can't do everything with a species that purely relies on touch.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long to update. I got side-tracked by my ["The Hour"](https://archiveofourown.org/series/2013298) series, and if the muse hits somewhere else, you have to follow.

The TARDIS landed and the Doctor stepped out into a small flat. He smelled the air.

“Aaaah, 5019, and _exactly_ the right spot. Seems I still got it, after all.”

His TARDIS hummed that he shouldn't be so full of himself and that there was a very scared human life form in front of him, on a sofa, with a laptop.

“Hi there, Danielle Raghib!”

“Who... who _are_ you?”

A hesitant human voice answered. About 25 Earth years, female, slightly depressed, at the moment scared and confused. Humans carried a lot of information in their voices. He had just never paid attention to this fact when he had still been able to see.

“I am the Doctor, and you are _exactly_ the human I was looking for, Raghib, Danielle Raghib!”

“What? How do you know my name? And how... what... why?”

“Aaaah, asking questions, always a good trait. I like people who are asking questions!”

He smiled, hoping it would radiate warmth and trust. Talking to people without seeing them was really difficult. He couldn't analyze her face and therefore didn't know if she was still scared when she didn't speak to him.

She said nothing, so she was probably still scared.

He felt something bumping his leg. _____ had of course not waited in the TARDIS like he had ordered them. He reached down and took them in his hand.

“Where are we, Doctor?” They wanted to know.

“We are in a human cave, _____ .” The Doctor typed.

_____ shuddered.

“You don't have to be afraid, we are in the cave of a really nice human.”

“There are nice humans?”

“Oh, yes, there are! This one is nice.”

The Doctor again addressed the human, but kept on typing against the Chrubb's side so they knew what they were talking about, also paraphrasing what the human said.

“Danielle Raghib, I have come to you because you are the only one who can help me to save this species from becoming extinct.”

“What? But... how? And... no, no, whoever you are, you must have confused something, I am just an ordinary human being. A student. An arts student to be exact. I'm not a scientist. I can't help you to save a... oh my god, that's cute, what is it?”

“Your species will call it a Chrubb, once it is discovered. But also, your species will hunt them and eat them, until they become extinct, like your species always does.”

“Can I... can I touch it?”

The human now sounded more curious than scared. That was good! He asked _____ if it was okay to hand them over to the human.

_____ shuddered.

“They are scared of you. Your species has killed a lot of their friends.”

“Awww, I understand that. But it doesn't need to be afraid, I'm a vegetarian. I would never eat it.”

The Doctor translated and _____ answered that they were willing to give  _this_ human a chance, but preferred to stay with the Doctor. 

The Doctor stepped forward into the direction where the voice came from. He bumped into the sofa because he had underestimated the distance.

“Sorry!” He apologized to the sofa.

“Nothing to be sorry for, you haven't even touched me.”

Danielle answered, then paused.

“Wait... are you... _blind_?”

“Why, yes? I'm a freaking handsome genius from out of space who just happens to be blind.”

“Sorry, this is just a bit much... and blind _alien_ landing in my flat with a species I have never seen or heard of, telling me I have to save it...”

“Granted, it sounds a bit confusing,” the Doctor shrugged, “but I can tell you that there are far stranger things in this universe.”

“I... I'll have to take your word for it, I guess. But I have totally forgotten my manners. Here, take a seat.”

He felt something softly taking his arm and guiding him to sit down on the sofa. That felt nice. He was always a bit hesitant to let humans touch him because they were a bit... rude, not really sensitive. Or, maybe, his skin just reacted a bit funny to touches in this incarnation. But this human was okay. Her touches were firm, but still gentle enough.

“So... _this_ is a Chrubb.”

He felt a human arm on his arm, probably touching _____ because they vibrated in his hands without saying something. It was a pleased vibration.

“Oh, my god, it's so soft! How could anyone eat something that cute?”

“I know, right? That's why I am here. You have to help me, making sure no one will ever eat them.”

“But how? I'm just a student!”

Humans were really maddening slow in catching the most obvious ideas.

“Raghib, Danielle Raghib, you are not 'just' a student, never say that! You are an _arts_ student. But not only that. You have a creative mind, and you love making movies, right?”

“Yes...”

“Not only movies, what do you call those movies where you imagine something happening in the future... Sei Fai Movies?”

“SciFi movies, yes, I do a lot of science fiction movies, or better short clips... animated ones and some with my friends who are into acting. Well... but really crappy ones, nothing professional.”

“Perfect. And you _do_ have a lot of friends, right?”

“Yes... well, a few. And some more who are following my little clips on the “That's Life” channel... well, they are not really friends, but they like my work and so, they share my little rubbish clips with their friends...”

“Perfect! And never call your clips 'rubbish'. I can't see them, for obvious reasons, but I heard them and the TARDIS also thinks they are brilliant.”

“Who is the TARDIS?”

“The blue box I came with... she's my best friend and companion.”

The TARDIS hummed affirmative.

“You are friends with a wooden police box?”

The TARDIS hummed annoyed.

“I don't care how my friends look. It is the inside that is important,” the Doctor shrugged. “Now, what do you say, do you help me saving the Chrubbs?”

He felt _____ crawling from his lap to the lap of the human. It now vibrated with a soft noise, something between a purr and a hummed melody.

“How could I refuse? They are so cute! I don't want them to become extinct. I have no idea how I could help you with my limited abilities but I sure want to help you to do something. I have high respect for my friends who are committed to politics, who fight for social and environmental matters. It is just that I... ah, well, I just don't have the mental strength they have.”

The Doctor wasn't sure he understood what the human tried to tell him. He only knew that _this_ human had all the abilities he needed to execute his plan.

“Oh, I can assure you, you have all the strength and the abilities you need to help me. The TARDIS thinks you are the only human on Earth who has the skill-set we need to save the Chrubbs. For _____'s species here, you are the most important being in this universe.”

The TARDIS hummed affirmative, and _____ gave a pleading, melodic purr.

“Okay... I still think you must be mistaken, but if you all say so... I will do what I can. But I still have no idea how I can help you, to be honest.”

The Doctor grinned. Humans, especially the brightest, most special ones, always underestimated their abilities. But they, the silent and insecure ones, not the loud and arrogant ones, were the reason humans were his favorite species.

“Oh, well, Raghib, Danielle Raghib, you will soon see how you are the _perfect_ human to help us. Here's the plan...”

The Doctor started to explain, knowing fully well that species and planets weren't saved by one almighty being which did something remarkable. That they were instead saved by small, brave, creative human beings in small flats who had no idea of the power they carried inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm curious if my readers already have an idea how Danielle will save the Chrubbs from becoming extinct. There are a few hints and I think it is obvious. But, of course, I am the one who has thought of the story...


End file.
